Facebook messenger to add end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls

Messenger is now getting end-to-end encryption for calls

Facebook has announced that it will begin adding end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls. The social media giant has also announced new controls for disappearing messages.

Announced with a blog post, Facebook said that, "In the past year, we’ve seen a surge in the use of audio and video calling with more than 150 million video calls a day on Messenger. Now we’re introducing calling to this chat mode so you can secure your audio and video calls with this same technology, if you choose."

The company also reiterated that once users enable end-to-end encryption in the settings, there is no way for anyone other than the people themselves to "listen to what’s sent or said."

Though, people can still choose to, "report an end-to-end encrypted message," if something was amiss.

Besides these changes, Facebook has also introduced a new timer for disappearing messages. Now users can select the duration after which the messages will expire, this can range from 5 seconds to 24 hours.

Facebook also announced some new features that are currently in testing. The first of which is end-to-end encryption for group voice and video calls within Facebook Messenger. This will be for, "friends and family that already have an existing chat thread or are already connected."

The company said they will also begin testing new delivery controls for chats that will help prevent unwanted interactions by giving users control over who gets added to the chat list and "who goes to your requests folder, and who can’t message you at all."

Facebook has also kicked off a limited test with adults in certain countries that lets them opt in to encrypted conversations on Instagram.